


A Den of Fire

by Ursa_Tyrannus



Series: Fire Aspect Asides [1]
Category: MCSM, Minecraft Story Mode
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Cozy, Gen, Weight Gain Mention, hibernation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:46:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25320346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ursa_Tyrannus/pseuds/Ursa_Tyrannus
Summary: Fire Aspect has gone missing, but Radar has a hunch on where she might have gone. He finds himself just brave enough to face a sleeping bear in its den.
Series: Fire Aspect Asides [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2115105
Kudos: 4





	A Den of Fire

The last thing Radar expected to find was a den. 

He's no hunter, but he knows bits and pieces, like what the freshly dug den of a large predator looks like when it's been covered up. He knows it especially well when he's staring it in the face. Mounds of dirt pushed aside, spread out as to look somewhat casual over the dead grass. It would be less obvious if he'd found it nestled between a bolder and a cluster of trees, but he hadn't. 

It's awfully suspicious to find this sort of thing nestled up to one of the outer temple walls. He's found weirder, though- not to mention he's got a strong hunch of the culprit. 

Fire Aspect, the rowdy fusion of Ivor and Petra respectively, had gone missing that morning, disappearing without a trace. No warning of her departure, no word of her day's plans. One moment she'd been lazily resting on the couch, then the next she was gone. 

Fire Aspect is one of the most powerful forces the Order of the Stone had ever come to face. She’s more than capable of handling herself, and just about anything that had wronged her in the past was decentigraded into smoldering ash. If they were lucky, severe burns or a detached limb were left in Fire Aspect's wake. 

So, the Order worried little of something as improbable as her capture.

That didn't mean they were calm by any means. Ivor and Petra, two of the order's strongest assets, composed Fire Aspect. They were two of the pieces which kept the Order whole; To lose them would be to lose the Order of the Stone. Radar agreed readily when Lukas suggested the start of a search. The sooner they found their warrior and alchemist, the better, whether or not the two of them as Fire Aspect had put themselves in any danger. 

Everything considered, Radar safely assumes he's found a trail. Now, he's hot on it. 

Besides the large den, there were few- actually,  _ no _ signs of an animal having visited the site recently. No recognizable tracks were imprinted into the ground (It would be obvious with the soil so freshly turned), no clues of a creature straying from the nearby forests. 

Except… 

Radar squints as he reaches for the topsoil, picking up a long strand of hair which curled slightly once it left the ground. In color, the hair is gradient, auburn on one end darkening to black on the other. 

As _if_ he needed more proof, but Radar will take everything he can get. 

In the past, there would have been no reason for Fire Aspect to dig into the earth and disappear. If she’d been trying to escape something, raw power and agility would be superior methods of escape rather than to burrow. Not to mention the scene, both at the den and where she’d last been seen, showed a consistent lack in signs of struggle. 

She hadn’t been fleeing from something. The den had been dug with purpose. 

What that purpose is, Radar has a hunch about too. He’s been wrong before, so he chooses not to hold himself to it or let himself get too excited about developments. Fire Aspect is as chaotic as she is hot-headed. 

Though it seems that every emerging speck of evidence, alongside the feeling in his gut, is pointing to the reason why Fire Aspect would go and hole herself up in the ground. 

Once, Fire Aspect had been lean and limber. Rightfully she matched the shape of her atunes when it came to body- later, however, her slender stature was overshadowed in favor of Ivor’s bulk which had carried over in fusion for the first time many winters ago. What had also carried over was Ivor’s insatiable appetite, which had nearly doubled if not tripled to compensate for Fire Aspect’s size. The effects of Ivor’s Essence of Winter, the reason for a soft and appetite insatiable, had carried over in fusion. 

Many winters passed since then. With that, many changes made to the lifestyles of Ivor and Petra. Petra had chosen to let her body soften as it wished. In combination with Ivor’s bulk, Fire Aspect became nothing short of a wonderful beast in both size and appetite. Soft around the edges, Radar himself often compared her to a dragon- greedy for treasure and food, Prideful of her magnificence, and in some cases?  _ Lazy.  _ Especially that morning, she’d done little more than lounge on the couch watching flames dance in the scorched niche of the fireplace. A fat, lazy dragon. She took pride in the title. 

Radar once feared her, though not anymore. 

The facts added up, each pointing to one solution with a shaking finger. If bulk and hunger had carried over to Aspect, then so had the desire to hibernate. 

Hibernation induced by the Essence of Winter was often sudden, lasting nowhere near as long as true hibernation though just as real in sense. According to Ivor, the deep, dreamless sleep would beacon him for hours until it was finally allowed to overtake him. Overtake him it would, for nearly a week. The effects were similar for Jesse as well as Harper. 

(They’d both followed in Ivor’s footsteps by their own choice. By the time Radar was introduced to the Order, it wasn’t difficult to notice the trend. Hibernation and the Essence of Winter were simply another form of their perfect paradise.) 

If he’s added everything up correctly, Radar’s allowed to assume that Fire Aspect felt the call of hibernation that morning. A call so intense in instinct that rather than curl up in a nest of blankets, she’d sought out a den within the ground. More specifically, underneath the temple. The den angled somewhere between downward and horizontal, running beneath the wall through a section of soil that had not yet been dug out to extend the temple basement. 

(It wasn’t as if they needed more room, the temple being a behemoth of its own with just the first two floors considered.)   
  
Radar leans back a bit, weighing his options as he examines the scene before him. The safest and most logical step would be to get the rest of the Order to discuss what he’d found, then devise a plan of how to retrieve their sleeping dragon. 

Radar decides against it. A call to adventure partnered with a burst of courage helps to finalize the decision. He heads for the front of the temple, snatching a shovel from the shriveled flower beds before doubling back to the den. 

His arms are aching by the time he fully unearths the entrance. The dark of its depths stare at him, so Radar stares back with a sense of pride as to hide his growing unease. 

Fire Aspect was down there, floating in a slumber of unimaginable depths. 

It'd be far less intimidating if he weren’t alone, or as small as he is compared to the fusion that reminds him of an apex predator. He’s made his choice, however. 

He’s Radar Lowenthal,  _ Hero in Residence-  _ He’s helped save the world and he’s not going to lose his marbles in fear over something as simple as retrieving a friend. He’s not going to run away like some heroes have, so he huffs loudly, tugs up his waistband a little more than he needs to, and dives for the burrow entrance. The shovel is left behind. 

Very quickly Radar realizes he should have brought a torch. Not three feet from the entrance, shadows consume the burrow. He adjusts his glasses-  _ can’t afford to lose them here _ -and keeps crawling. The tunnel is large, but too small for him to stand and too lacking in height for the journey to be comfortable on two legs whatsoever. 

As he moves deeper, Radar swears he can see claw marks in the soil of the tunnel walls, complimented by occasional patches of scorch. Definitely Fire Aspect. Fitting her theme, the soil underfoot is warm unlike the packed, freezing winter ground on the outside. 

\---

Lukas hears it again past the muffled arguments of Harper and Axel. He feels it, almost- a presence he can’t see, followed by a faint shifting and what he swears is breathing. The noise is so distant that the others don’t notice or care for it. He tries to focus, but their bickering is too much. 

“Would you guys  _ shut up? _ ” 

Their fuss quiets immediately, dissolving to clustered murmurs then silence. They stare at him blankly.

“What?” 

“Just be  _ quiet. _ ”

Lukas’s eyes narrow in focus, specifically at the smooth stone floor. The living room is in sonance, the fireplace vacant in neglect due to the ensuing panic of Fire Aspect’s disappearance The flames had all but been forgotten. 

The noise refuses to rear its head again. So, like the stubborn ocelot he is, Lukas chooses to pursue it. He lowers himself to the floor, ear pressing against the ground. 

“What the heck are you doing?”

Lukas doesn’t verbally respond, raising a finger at Axel to quiet him. 

He hears it then. A deep, beastly breathing rumbles beneath the floor. However faint, its presence is undeniable, each breath long and content. It’s rough enough to be considered a snore, even. 

Lukas has a feeling about where Fire Aspect is. 

\---

There’s a steady breathing in the den that becomes more prominent with every pace forward, and Radar isn’t sure how much he’s liking this decision anymore. Of course he can always turn back, the den is just wide enough for it, but… 

He’s never found enjoyment in feeling like a coward. He can’t think of anyone who would, be they the coward or spectators to cowardice. 

Every spec of evidence pointing to their Fire Aspect as the den’s owner is something he has to remind himself of as a particularly pleased growl interrupts the den’s steady breathing. 

The signs say Fire Aspect, they _s_ _ ound _ like Fire Aspect, yet Radar can’t wipe the images of savage beasts from his mind. Furious roars as he enters the heart of their den, the clamping of jaws on his limbs, shattering his bones in a fraction of a second… 

Absolutely none of this imagery is helped by the den’s pitch black interior. Despite the scorching, Fire Aspect hasn’t left a single spark behind her. 

He really,  _ really _ should have brought a torch. 

At this point, there’s only one way to go: Forward. So he does, hoping not to scrape a knee on a stray stone, but the soils of Beacontown have never been known for being rocky. 

A few more paces and the breathing is louder than ever, amplified in the tight space. The volume of slumber muffles how hard his heart is pounding in his chest, echoing from his ribcage, prompting Radar to silently beg that it isn’t loud enough to wake Fire Aspect.

The space even feels as though it's opened up, constricting walls no longer in reach when Radar strains to brush his fingers over the presumably scorched soil. 

Instead, his hand brushes the warmth of flesh. Foreign hot breath huffs onto his hand. 

Radar yelps, jolting backwards in the darkness, heart racing faster than ever. 

He’d broken into Fire Aspect’s den, sought her out, touched her face as she slept, then managed not to get his hand mangled in the process. It was one for the books. 

Suddenly her breath stops short, molding into a snort followed by several sniffles. Her large body shifts around him in the darkness, making it clear that Radar’s found himself perfectly in the middle of her curled form. She rumbles, quieting again. 

Radar’s heart begins to slow. 

The process is made fruitless when Fire Aspect sneezes the loudest sneeze he’s ever heard, loud enough to wake herself, the way that Radar has seen Lukas’s cat wake himself before. With the sneeze, light suddenly flares through the den, her stripes glowing with embers in wake of the sudden expulsion. The faint glow lingers, outlining the den’s inhabitants. 

There lay the Aspect of Fire, finally revealed, squinting at Radar like a pleased cat in her dim light. Her eyes barely open, the corners of her maw perked up in the slightest smile. Unexpectedly, there’s another pleased rumble from the fusion’s throat. 

“He _ llo,  _ little one.” She purrs. 

‘Hello little one’ is a hell of a lot better than what Radar expected. He counts his blessings with nimble fingers, assuring a softness to his voice in hopes of gaining more. “Fire aspect- I didn’t think you’d be down here!” He speaks quietly. “I’m sorry, I- I didn’t mean to wake you.” 

No one in the order is a fan of lying, especially Aspect’s atunes, but the fusion is half asleep and this is only so she won’t scalp him with her claws for disturbing her. 

(Not that she really would, anyway. Fear and anxiety love to work in tandem, and they’ve got a funny way of twisting all the possibilities in his brain. With all the force of her demand and greed, Fire Aspect is noble and kind when she feels it is needed.)

In her delay of response he adds, “What exactly are you doing down here?” 

Fire aspect contemplates for a moment. She closes her eyes again, exhaling slowly before answering. “Mm-Hmm. Sleep called out to me. I heeded it.” 

“But why all the way down _ here?” _

Fire Aspect sighs as she stretches, her cheek pushing up as it rests on her arm. She purrs again, “It feels right. I was just so  _ tired. _ ” 

“Well, you look it.” 

Radar cringes as the words come. He’s testing his blessings, now tempted to pinch himself in the side as a reminder of just who he’s dealing with. But, as his sense of greater reason protests, Fire Aspect is true to her word. She looks too exhausted to do much of anything to him. 

He can tell it's going to be fun trying to get her out of her special den. 

As soon as she closes her eyes again, the den returns to its blackened state. “You should stay a while. It must have been so tiring, digging out my den.” 

As warm as the space is, a chill runs up Radar’s spine. He doesn’t know the ifs and hows of why Aspect knows he was the one to desecrate her hibernation site, but it's his farthest intention to find out what it's like to hibernate with a monsterous fusion. He slowly scoots out of her reach, leaning against the den wall. 

(It’s not like she can’t lunge for him, wrapping her strong arms around his fragile little body and holding him in her grasp for days or weeks no matter how much he screams and struggles. It's not like she can’t decide to maul him in her delirious state, devour him if she gets desperately hungry… 

But greater reason pinches him in the side again, reminding Radar that no matter what it may seem, Fire Aspect really does love him. He needs to trust her more.) 

“I don’t think I can stay, Aspect…” Radar brushes his fingers through his hair nervously, combing out bits of soil. “I mean, I came hoping you would come with  _ me _ , actually. Everyone’s really worried about you.” 

“ _ Nonsense… _ ” She yawns, revealing ivory white canines in another burst of orange light, fading away as the yawn dies in her maw. “They are… strong. _Surely_ you can go without me for a little while, can’t you?”

Radar’s in the middle of processing how difficult this is actually going to be until there’s a stir above them.

They both freeze, looking upwards at the roof of her den. He realizes, as Aspect’s stripes glow brighter, that the surface above them is rock foundation rather than soil. 

Aspect’s eyes widen an impressive amount for her fatigued state. “That is… Peculiar” 

She’s not wrong.

There’s a flurry of murmurs above them after she speaks, and suddenly her eyes light with a flash of fear. It disappears as soon as she growls, sitting up and glancing rapidly at all of her ceiling’s possible weaknesses. 

She reminds him of a child in her sudden denial; Fire Aspect knows what she’s done, she knows exactly where she is- and frankly, she doesn’t want out of bed, so she’ll fight it with her fiery soul until someone or other physically drags her out. 

\---- 

It was as easy as it sounded. 

Fire Aspect refuses to look at any of them, curled up on the living room carpet, pouting. 

The Order wants to hate her. She’s stubborn, greedy, often unreasonable, because now there’s a giant hole in the floor that needs to be repaired. It’s causing a draft, too. That only makes the rest of them crankier, including Aspect herself. 

They can’t hate her. They really, really love her. 

It was Axel’s idea to break straight into the floor. A split-second decision made in the wake of panic isn’t always the wisest, yet, the desperation within them all led to agreement. There were voices beneath the floor and Fire Aspect was missing. They couldn’t afford to mess around. 

Of course, the least they expected was to find not only their Fire Aspect, but to find the fusion curled around Radar protectively while growling furious curses at those gathered around her now-broken den. 

Fire Aspect could have easily hurt them if she truly wanted. As she was pulled from her burrow, Fire Aspect did little more than pull against their efforts and continue to complain, frenetic growls dissolving into grumbling complaints as the fusion lost her spark. 

Lukas sits with Radar on the couch, watching Jesse and Harper persist to disturb the fusion, pushing her form which now well and truly refuses to move. Even as the fireplace roars, Aspect doesn’t bother. Pretty soon, they’ll give up too. 

A wet cloth is carefully dabbed over a scrape on Radar’s arm, one he didn’t notice until they’d pulled him out with the aggressive fusion. Radar could just clean it himself, but there’s comfort in help from family. 

“Honestly, I’m not even surprised at this point.” Lukas sets down the rag, switching for a drier one. “It’s not like her to lose her appetite anytime. I knew something was up.” 

Radar just nods in response, watching the subtle rise and fall of Fire Aspect’s belly. 

**Author's Note:**

> Formerly posted as an Inktober fic


End file.
